engineering

Unimate

Unimate is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Unimate rather than just read about it. In short: Unimate was the first industrial robot, which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961. There were in fact a family of robots.

Key takeaways

Unimate belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Unimate to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Unimate from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Unimate was the first industrial robot, which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961. There were in fact a family of robots.

History It was invented by George Devol in the 1950s using his original patent filed on December 10, 1954 and granted on June 13, 1961 (U.S. patent 2,988,237). The patent is titled "Programmed Article Transfer" (PAT) and begins:

The present invention relates to the automatic operation of machinery, particularly the handling apparatus, and to automatic control apparatus suited for such machinery. Devol, together with Joseph Engelberger, his business associate, started the world's first robot manufacturing company, Unimation. Devol's background wasn't in academia, but in engineering and mechanics, and previously worked on optical sound recording for film and high-speed printing using magnetic sensing and recording. Engelberger's ultimate goal was to create mechanical workers to replace humans in factories. The machine weighed 4000 pounds and undertook the job of transporting die castings from an assembly line and welding these parts on auto bodies, a dangerous task for workers, who might be poisoned by toxic fumes or lose a limb if they were not careful. The original Unimate consisted of a large computer-like box, joined to another box and was connected to an arm, with systematic tasks stored in a drum memory. In 2003 the Unimate was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

Technology

Unimate The 1961 Unimate installed at a General Motors factory differed significantly from George Devol's 1954 patented design. The Unimate was a hydraulically actuated programmable manipulator arm with 5 degrees of freedom. This contrasted with the simpler three-prismatic-link pick-and-place arm described in Devol's "Programmed Article Transfer" (PAT) patent.

Devol's patent Devol's earlier methodology, involving the conversion of analog information into electrical signals, formed the basis for subsequent patents. The patent proposed a cost-effective, general-purpose article-handling machine for diverse industrial tasks, with programmable motions, including gripping mechanisms. It would have a wheeled chassis on rails, a base unit housing the movement-recording program drum, an elevator for vertical arm translation, a telescoping arm with a transfer head and gripper, and a three-dimensional position-sensing system using encoders and sensing heads. The position-sensing system (proprioception) had two versions: one using notched metal strips and ferrous material detection, the other, a magnetized plate with polarity-based sensing and recording. Similarly, the program drum had two forms: a malleable metal sheet with mechanically deformed bulges, and a solid magnetizable drum. Both drum types used corresponding reading mechanisms. The robot could be programmed by manually moving the gripper, recording the location on the program drum, then it could perform the same motion, an early form of imitation learning. This resulted in point-to-point movement, a standard feature in modern robotic arms. The magnetizable drum also allowed recording continuous movements along curved paths, synchronized with a timing reference for playback. The fixed encoder array on the base unit served as a location index for recording, enabling deceleration near programmed positions and self-correction during operation.

In popular culture The Unimate appeared on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson on which it knocked a golf ball into a cup, poured a beer, waved the orchestra conductor's baton and grasped an accordion and waved it around. Fictional robots called Unimate, designed by the character Alan von Neumann, Jr., appeared in comic books from DC Comics.

References

External links Electronic robot 'Unimate' works in a building in Connecticut, United States. Newsreel footage

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Unimate

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Unimate claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Unimate before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Unimate ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Unimate

In research: Unimate appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Unimate in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Unimate is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 robots, Historical robots, Industrial robots, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Unimate outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Unimate in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Unimate means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Unimate out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Unimate in simple terms?

Unimate was the first industrial robot, which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961. There were in fact a family of robots.

Why does Unimate matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Unimate?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Unimate.